1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a worm drive hose clip comprising a clamping strap, a housing, and a clamping screw comprised of a head and a threaded shaft. The clamping strap has overlapping end sections. The radially outwardly positioned one of the end sections is provided with thread elements which engage the threaded shaft, and the radially inwardly positioned end section is positive-lockingly connected with a bottom of the housing surrounding the end sections and the threaded shaft of the clamping screw. The housing supports the clamping screw in both circumferential directions of the clip. The housing is comprised of a housing band whose ends delimit a butt joint in the area of the bottom of the housing and are connected with one another by interlocking undercuts provided at their edges delimiting the butt joint. The bottom of the housing is provided on a border facing the clamping screw head on both sides of the butt joint with one of two tongues, respectively, that are radially outwardly bent and project together into an opening in the radially inner end section of the clamping strap.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known worm drive hose clip of this kind (DE 196 33 435 C1), only one opening is provided on each one of the transverse borders of the housing bottom in a folded or bent portion (groove) of the clamping strap, wherein the folded or bent portion is pressed outwardly and extends transversely to the clamping strap. On each transverse border, two tongues are provided which, while contacting one another, engage the same opening in a sidewall of the folded portion, respectively. The tongues are designed to prevent spreading apart of the butt joint from a central area, where the edges of the butt joint are positive-lockingly connected, toward the respective edges of the housing bottom. The tongues prevent moreover that the housing, before introduction of the clamping screw into the housing, can become detached from the clamping strap which would make difficult the insertion of the clamping screw. However, the introduction of the tongues provided on the transverse border of the housing bottom facing away from the clamping screw head into their common opening is also difficult. This transverse border is supported on the edge portions of the correlated opening positioned laterally adjacently to their tongues and is therefore supported only at two locations during clamping of the hose clip strap; for high clamping forces, this is not sufficient in many situations.
Moreover, there is the risk that the axial sidewalls of the folded or bent portion are pulled apart at very high clamping forces so that the folded portion will be deformed back into the plane of the clamping strap. It can happen that the tongues no longer engage the correlated openings provided at the transverse border of the housing bottom facing away from the clamping screw head. Moreover, the folded portion increases the radial spacing of the threaded screw shaft from the hose to be secured by means of the clip on a pipe so that the moment of flexion of the return deformation acting on the folded portion will increase. Despite this, the known hose clip withstands relatively high clamping forces. This can result in the person manipulating the clip attempting to increase the tension more and more in order to secure the hose as tightly as possible. This can result in the clamping strap becoming damaged, or even becoming detached, in the strap area provided with the embossed thread elements cooperating with the threaded screw shaft.